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This is the story of Tommy, a young boy who is told by his dog Labby to
kill his mother, because according to the dog she carries a devil fetus.
The boy does as he's told, then fucks Labby over her mother's dead body
... but there might be no Labby at all. Weirdly enough, Tommy feels
somehow drawn to a prostitute-killing junkie who lives in an abandoned
church, but who might just be another manifestation of his own self. This
is also the story of young Ralph, a young boy who was born with a second
face on the side of his head. He wants to hide it, to pass of as
"normal", but his parents won't have it, tell him to be proud of
his second face, and actually prefer the second face to him. When Ralph
goes out, he mostly wears a mask, to look as normal as possible. Ralph
is madly in love with Sophie, the pretty young girl in his class - and
wouldn't you know it, Sophie likes him back, a lot, and couldn't care less
about his second face. Sophie's father apporoves of their relationship
wholeheartedly ... but when she is not looking, he sells Ralph a
kiddie-porn starring his own daughter. Ralph is too young to understand
the implications, and when he stops by Sophie's place the next time, he
asks her father to let him star in a movie with her. The father's all for
it, and even Ralph's own father, once he sees the film starring his son,
totally approves of it. Sophie though is broken in two by this experience,
and she either hangs herself or becomes a hooker the junkie living in the
abandoned church will kill later on. Ralph only now understands what he
has done, and so, supported by none other than Labby, he goes on a killing
spree, killing all of those responsible for what has happened. Even
though ... Ralph might only be yet another manifestation of Tommy and the
prostitute-killing junkie. If this synopsis doesn't make much
sense, I have done my job right, because Where the Dead Go to Die
doesn't make a heap of sense either - and that's the whole point of the
movie. Basically, this is not your typical narrative feature that moves
from point A to point B in a more or less linear way but a piece of
nightmarish madness that very intentionally leaves a lot open to
interpretation and that seems to tell its story in spirals rather than
anything else. And the narrative confusion is perfectly mirrored in the
film's rich imagery that pays rather little heed to perfect realism but
presents the audience with otherworldly landscapes full of dark symbolism
and macabre metaphors. To put it another way: This is a film unlike
anything you have ever seen. It's not for the faint-hearted, and it does
nothing to lift your spirits - but if you're in the right mindset, then
it's pretty impressive.
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